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Businesses may think cyber hackers are only after financial assets – but strategic information or intellectual property may also be at risk

If it wasn’t already clear, last May’s alarming WannaCry ransomware attack – which infected around 300,000 computers across the world and crippled the National Health Service – made it blindingly obvious that organisations, large and small, urgently need to better arm themselves against cyber criminals, or face having their digital assets compromised and reputations shredded.

But what kinds of data are most valuable – and indeed vulnerable – to hackers, and why should business leaders take extra care to protect them?

2016 was the most damaging year in terms of cyber-security breaches, and 2017 is already worseTroels Oerting, CISO, Barclays

“Cyber criminals have a number of motives,” says Troels Oerting, group chief information security officer (CISO) at Barclays. “Of course the most common is to steal either money or credit card information that they can use. They actively try to penetrate payment platforms that will give access to the biggest prize.

“But some of them want to steal strategic information, intellectual property (IP), business plans and secret information on mergers and acquisitions. Others want to steal the personal, private information of customers and staff.”

Growing risks

Less than a fortnight after the WannaCry attack, Xose Diaz, head of enterprise at Samsung Mobile Europe, told delegates at the Telegraph’s Cyber Security Conference that the cost of cyber crime to the global economy in 2016 was £260bn.

Further, 80pc of organisations have admitted that they have been breached, with many of those attacks triggered by gaining credentials of the employees. However, around “90pc of these incidents can be solved with the appropriate security platforms and solutions” and decent “cyber-security hygiene”, Diaz said.

90pc of incidents can be solved with the appropriate security platforms and solutionsXose Diaz, head of enterprise, Samsung Mobile Europe

Dr Louise Bennett, chair of the Security Community of Expertise, tells the Telegraph: “It is key that every organisation knows what data they hold and where it is; how secure it is; and how much it matters to the organisation. Cyber attacks can be insidious, and you risk the integrity of your data, having IP stolen, and losing the personal data of staff, people in your supply chain, or even customers.

“A loss of reputation, though, is the most valuable thing at stake, and all it takes is one mistake – or one breach – to damage that. Once you lose the trust of your customer base, you are in trouble.”

Better late than never, business leaders are waking up to the threat of cyber crime, according to Barclays’ Oerting, who adds: “Due to the surge in cyber crime, it is important for any organisation holding digital assets to have a subject-matter expert on board, protecting the company from penetration from the outside or inside.

“Now most companies have appointed CISOs, having realised they need to carefully and cleverly defend their digital crown jewels, using in-house technical skill and intelligence. The reality is 2016 was the most damaging year in terms of cyber-security breaches, and 2017 is already worse.”

You have been warned… again.

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